I decided to write an article about cat breeders, what catteries are and whether you should start breeding cats.
First, I will tell a little about my history. Since 1986, when we moved to a single house, we always had a cat in the house, and sometimes not one. They were simple house cats that never seemed to get sick, ate everything in the world and generally did not need any care from humans. I didn't think about pedigree cats at that time, because it was not a priority for me in my life at that moment. But it so happened that my income increased, and I thought about the beautiful things. Once in 2010 we went to a cat show, which was held in a neighboring city and there we met this extraordinary miracle, which immediately all fell in love. We saw the mom cat with her kittens. Golden cat sharply stood out from all other cats presented at the cat show, but its beauty was extraordinary, but the price of kittens was also extraordinary. But we firmly decided to buy a kitten, collected all our savings, sold the treadmill, which served as a clothes rack and bought a British shorthair kitten in golden color.
That's how our story began, but at the time we had no idea that we would one day be a cat breeder of this beautiful breed. In 2016 we moved to the USA, and I brought a Siberian cat for my sister, who stayed to live with us. Since we lived with my sister, I always helped her with the cattery gained a lot of experience and when we started living separately in 2020, we decided to open our own British cat cattery. I always take my work very seriously and responsibly, and at that time already having a lot of experience with the Siberian breed I read a lot of articles and browsed the Internet on this topic. In view of the fact that catteries usually specialize either on premium animals or on regular animals, I decided to open two lines of this breed. In our cattery you will find the right animal for you. In my case, the premium and regular breed cats live separately from each other so that their blood does not mix, and the lines have strong visual differences. There are only three catteries in the USA, including ours, that breed in the premium segment, and we are very proud of that.
So, let's get to the point of this article.
A cat breeder is a business that has to make money. Do not believe if a breeder tells you that he does it all for love, in this case catteries would not close, because they do not need money, and love is unlimited. But alas, a cattery is a very expensive thing, especially at the initial stage. For example, to start selling premium segment, I spent $40,000 and this despite the fact that I had serious advantages over those who decide to start breeding cats without experience and familiarity in this area of business. The average person with no experience has to spend $50,000 to $70,000 in the US and at least a couple years of working and waiting for the cats to grow while your website or Instagram gains the necessary number of followers to make you known. It's a day-to-day job that doesn't generate any profit for at least the first two years.
So, breeders fall into two categories. The first category includes the majority of breeders, I believe it is 80-90%. These breeders are just breeding cats for profit. In this case, a conveyor belt is created, there are a lot of cats, the breeder can not say who he will have in the litter, does not delve into the study of selection and genetics of the animal. In this case, a kitten for the cattery is bought simply because he liked it visually. Often the breeder is not interested in the cattery in which he buys the animal, does not study the pedigree of the animal and in general does not plan and define his branches in breeding in any way. Often in such catteries animals live very crowded, and often in cages, as a cat, like a person has its own character and there are often fights between them. To prevent animals from fighting, they are simply placed in cages. It is not forbidden by law, but a cat in such keeping has no opportunity for physical activity and often becomes feral, as it does not have contact with other cats. There is no beautiful hair, good health to speak of, as it is impossible to maintain it in such conditions. The cat usually works up to 5 maximum 7 years and at such maintenance the cat has no visible diseases, but the cat's organism is already exhausted. Therefore, when buying a cat out of breeding, especially if it is more than 5 years old, pay special attention to the cattery. How many cats, whether the breeder can show you the animal without preparation (so that he does not have the opportunity to bring the cat in order). What I can say for sure, no cattery from this category does not occupy the premium segment. Therefore, to ensure that you do not find yourself in a situation where you were sold a sick animal with chronic diseases, not socialized and being in the cattery in constant stress, it is worth paying attention to cats from the expensive segment.
The second category of catteries is catteries that breed cats with a professional approach. I can say that these are all catteries of the expensive segment. In these catteries all cats are selected not only by phenotype (appearance), but also fully studied the genetic tree of a particular animal. In this case, the breeder knows exactly what he wants this animal for, what animals he will mate it with and what kind of offspring he wants to get. These are breeders, they work to breed out specific characteristics and traits of the animal. In such catteries, the breeder can tell when and from which cat he expects which kittens. Cages are used only for giving birth to cats and when kittens are 1 month old they are placed in a separate room for kittens and teenagers with their moms. All cats for such catteries are bought only in trusted catteries and usually abroad.
In our case we have two lines of breeds, regular and premium. The decision to keep two lines of breeds was made for the reason of affordability for the client, because many people are not ready to buy an animal for $3000 and above, so we decided to maintain a regular line in our cattery. You can win Bingo. I will not hide, there are cases when a kitten lingers in the cattery and in this case we drop the price on such an animal. In this case, you can buy a kitten from a premium line for the price of a regular line. A regular line kitten will never turn into a premium line kitten, but it will definitely mature. So the choice is yours or a 3 month old regular line kitten or a 6 month old premium line kitten for the same price.
In our case we have two lines of breeds, regular and premium. The decision to keep two lines of breeds was made for the reason of affordability for the client, because many people are not ready to buy an animal for $3000 and above, so we decided to maintain a regular line in our kennel. You can win Bingo. I will not hide, there are cases when a kitten lingers in the cattery and in this case we drop the price on such an animal. In this case, you can buy a kitten from a premium line for the price of a regular line. A regular line kitten will never turn into a premium line kitten, but it will definitely mature. So the choice is yours or a 3 month old regular line kitten or a 6 month old premium line kitten for the same price.